SWRS Chapter 7

“Alright, alright, class is in session.” A man whose face resembled more of a snake said. His yellow eyes scanned the gym where twenty students stood in white t-shirts and blue shorts. I stood against the wall with Juni by my side. All the other girls of the class were beside us. Combat classes were not my favorite since I was not very athletic. “I am not here to coddle you.” Our teacher continued from the middle of the gym. “I will not kiss your boo-boos. I am here to teach you how to fight and if you pay an ounce of attention, you might learn something.”

From across the gym I could see Sam rolled his dark eyes as he massaged his wrist. He was probably thinking that he had better things to do than sit in a basic combat class. The instructor zeroed in on the council president as Sam glanced at the ticking wall clock. A wicked grin tugged at the teacher’s thin lips. “Mr. Wright, do you need to be somewhere?”

“Probably.” Sam replied, running his fingers through his brown hair. He traded tight smiles with the older man. “But I’m all yours for the hour.” A few students chuckled before straightening up in attention. I cupped the wall behind me, trying to blend in. I really hated this class. Our teacher frowned in response and pulled out his clipboard.

“Ms. Carter,” Juni’s head jumped up at the sound of her last name. Her chocolate brown eyes glared at the instructor. I glanced at her, I had yet to see her in a fight during this class. “You have the pleasure to wiping the floor with Mr. Wright. Congratulations.” Sam gave the girl a side glance. Her bright green hair cupped her heart-shaped face. She was at least a foot shorter than Sam. The boy pursed his lips and raised his hand. The instructor sighed and reluctantly acknowledged him. “Yes, Mr. Wright, what is it this time?”

“I’m not fighting her.” Sam declared. “I can snap her in half.” Something flew through the air towards Sam. The boy waved his hand up, creating a bubble of water around the object still looking at the instructor. He turned and smirked at the weapon. A curved dagger hovered trapped in the water, aimed for his temple. The curvy marks on the hilt looked like butterfly wings. I jumped away from Juni as she stepped forward. Her arms were crossed as she glared at him. A smirk curved on Sam’s handsome face. “Oh, little future seer has some bite.”

“I wasn’t even trying.” Juni replied as she waved her fingers. The dagger in Sam’s bubble disappeared and three more appeared in her hand. Sam cracked his neck. This was going to be interesting. The two stepped into the center of the room, slowly circling each other like lions preparing for a fight.

“Ladies first.” Sam said, nodding to Juni. Her eyes narrowed again before she moved. For a moment, I lost sight of the her like she flickered in and out of existence. Sam flung his arm up to his right side, catching her kick. It knocked him back. She didn’t wait for him to recover, slashing and swiping her daggers like they were extensions of her arms. Sam bobbed and weaved, trying to read her movements. Her facial expression turned stone cold, unreadable.

Sam’s back collided with the wall as Juni pulled her arm back, ready to stab him. Waving his hand, a blob of water encased her foot and quickly froze, knocking her off balance. Sam ducked and rolled away as her dagger pierced the wall. A frustrated growl escaped her lips as she threw her dagger down, cutting the ice away from her foot. Sam panted as he placed his hand on the floor. The ice melted quickly and water droplets scurried to his side. Juni breathed softly as well as she tucked a bit of her hair behind her ear. She didn’t wait this time.

Again, she moved with inhuman speed. Sam didn’t move this time, catching her dagger as she tried to stab him in the back. He hooked his leg and tried to throw the girl but she dug one of her daggers in his leg. A sharp gasp escaped his lips as he fell down, dragging her with him. He rolled onto his back, trying to gain some ground but the pain in his leg stopped any quick movements. Juni sat on his stomach, one hand pressed against the wound on his leg, the other with a dagger to his neck.

“A little unhinged, Mr. President?” Juni asked as she pressed the wound. Sam grounded his teeth and glared up at her. He kept his breathing steady as he placed his hands flat against the floor.

“Did you see this coming, Ms. Precog?” Sam replied as ice daggers materialized from the water surrounding them. Juni gasped as she sat up, lifting her chin. Cold sharp tips sat inches away from her warm skin. A menacing one pressed against her neck. She glared down at him but continued pressing her dagger tip against Sam’s jugular. “Tie?” He asked almost condescendingly.

Our instructor clapped his hands, indicating that it was indeed a tie. Sam’s icicles melted. Juni sat there a moment longer, dagger still pressed against Sam’s throat before she hopped off. Sam pushed himself up right, placing his hand over his wound. The water rushed to the spot as he rubbed his neck where Juni’s dagger nearly cut him. She stalked away without looking back or another word.

“That was amazing,” I whispered to her. Juni wiped some sweat off of her face and sent a small grin my way.

“That was fun,” she whispered back. We were cut off by the instructor calling out another pair.

Once back in the locker room, I pulled out the little satchel and stared at it. It had the faint scent of lavender but other than that, it seemed to be nothing special. I wondered what was in it exactly that would keep a god away. It seemed almost highly unlikely, but I remembered those blue eyes watching me and the knife that was held to my throat. Maybe I should try harder in combat class.

I sighed aloud, sitting in our next class, the music classroom, my fingers on the piano keys. I was not understanding music. It was like I had no talent for it at all. Juni could play the most beautiful songs without looking at the keys. The notes strung together to create such beautiful melodies.

“Juni,” I whined to her, staring at my keys. “I have absolutely no idea what I am doing.”

“You should play with your spirit.” She informed me, tapping some more keys “Let it flow free. Feel the note in the air and make your own song.”

“Don’t get poetic on me.” I snorted, “I don’t think I have a song.”

“You do,” she assured me, “you just have to find it.”

“I think I can go on living if it stays hidden.” I muttered into the piano.

“Fine then, Mister unhappy pants,” she stuck her tongue out at me and winked. She was turning back towards her piano when she suddenly stopped moving. Her eyes glazed over and turned almost clear in color.

“Juni?” I jumped up and went over to her side. Her fingers were twitching where they rested on her thighs. It took me a moment to realize that she was having a vision. Something about this moment had activated her precognition. I had never seen it happen before and I didn’t know what to do. So I just stayed by her side. Holding her hand in mine. I don’t know how long it lasted, it could have been minutes, it could have been longer, but when Juni’s eyes regained their focus, I knew the vision was over. She blinked a couple times, her hand finally squeezing mine.

“Well, now,” she said, “that was interesting.” Her eyes still focusing, she looked at me, frowning.

“What happened?”

“Remember how I told you I never see an entire vision, just different patchwork quilt versions?” I nodded, watching the way her face scrunched up as she thought about the vision she had just had. “This time, I saw everything. I could see the time on the clock that was on a wall. I could see every single face clearly and heard every word that will be spoken.” She looked at me again, worry etched on her face.

“What’s wrong, Juni?”

“I think I should go talk to the Mad Hatter. Something bad is going to happen.” Juni darted out of her seat behind the piano and ran out if the room.

“Juni!” I yelled after her, hoping she would stop, but she didn’t. I groaned underneath my breath and used my powers to grab both of our bags from the floor, swinging them onto my shoulder. I ran after her, watching her green hair bounce each step she took.

Since it was the middle of class no one should have been in the halls, but I ran into Sam, literally. I collided with him, falling to the ground, just barely catching myself. I flipped my hair out of my eyes as I looked up. It made sense for Sam to not be in class, with him being the Student Council President, he had other jobs he had to do.

“Woah, what’s the matter? Why are you in such a hurry?” Even I didn’t know, so how could I explain. Irritated, I used my powers to move him out of the way, I needed to catch up with Juni. Abruptly, my feet stopped moving, when I looked down, I saw that a band of water was wrapped around me, holding me in place like steel. The water froze and turned to ice around my shoes. I groaned. Now I would never catch up to Juni.

“Sam,” it came out almost like a swear, “Let me go.”

“Not until you tell me what’s going on.”

“I don’t even know!” I half yelled at him. “Juni had a vision and ran out of the room.” I struggled against the water. I felt like bangging my head against the lockers near me. I did not like the frightened look on Juni’s face, I really needed to catch up to her. “Now let me go.”

“Fuck,” he swore before he waved a hand, the water and ice dissipated. I glared at him and began to run again. This time instead of stopping me, Sam kept pace beside me.

“What did she see?” Sam questioned, not even breathing hard as he kept pace with me.

“I’m not the Hatter, I don’t know, but apparently it’s not good.” Sam stared at me, his face revealing nothing. We ran through the halls, when we finally reached Mr. Parker’s room, I could hear Juni talking adamantly.

“-it’ll be in three or four days. I don’t know anymore than that.”

“You did good to bring this to me, Juniper.” The voice was unfamiliar. It was raspy, yet soothing at the same time. When I skidded to a halt in front of the door, I found Juni talking to a woman with long blond hair wearing a light blue shirt and grey slacks.

At the noise of me taking a step into the room, the woman looked up towards me. One of her eyes was a deep purple and the other was a murky grey. At the sight of me, she cut off her sentence abruptly and just stared at me, her eyes silently etching every detail of my face into her mind. She blinked, her expression softening slightly, she opened her mouth to say something, out stretching her hand, but Sam cut her off.

“Headmistress.” The woman pulled her hand back towards herself, a sad look crossing her face before she schooled her expression.

“Ah, Mr. Sorell, already causing trouble.” She said it to me but she was looking at Sam as well. Sam walked out from behind me and waved a hand toward the woman.

“Echo, this is the headmistress of Silverleaf academy, Amelia Coeur.” The headmistress smiled at me and took a couple steps towards me. She extended that hand again, that’s when I noticed all up and down her arm were scars, they were mainly all faded but the injury that it had once been looked devastating. Maybe it was what had caused the blindness in her right eye.

I extended my hand out, grasping the headmistresses hand in mine. We shook. Her grip was firm, tighter than what it probably should have been, but she had that look of longing in her eye once again. I pulled slightly back, and she dropped her arm. I glanced over at Juni, she still had that worried look on her face, I side stepped the Headmistress and went to Juni’s side.

“Are you alright?” I asked her. She nodded slightly, her face beginning to gain color back where it had been lost.

“I’m fine.” She whispered, then she ran a hand over her face. I looked over at the headmistress. She was talking quietly to Sam, he was nodding his head, and sneaking glances over at Juni and I.
“I think we should probably go back to our room for the rest of the day. You need some sleep.”

“I told you, I’m fine. I can finish the rest of the day.”

“Juniper,” the Headmistresses voice was loud, we both looked over at her, Sam had disappeared somewhere in the few seconds we had been talking. “Echo is correct. You need to rest. I’ll let both of your teachers know.” I looked over at Juni, and she looked as if she wanted to argue. I shook my head at her.

“Come on, Juni.” Juni sighed, all the fight leaving her body. She walked in front of me, her normal glide now heavy. I was about to leave the room to follow her back to the dorms when the Headmistress put her hand on my shoulder. I looked up at her.

“Keep that satchel on you at all times, Echo.” I wondered how she knew about it, but she must have talked to Dr. Holloway.

“Go to your friend, she needs you.” I nodded to her and jogged out the door to keep up with Juni. A glance back showed the Headmistress staring after me, a look I had never seen on any face before. It held such sorrow it almost broke my heart. Shaking off the thought, I walked back with Juni to our dorm room.

The both of us instantly collapsed on our beds upon reaching our room. My head hurt, but I thought nothing of it. When I looked over at Juni, she was staring out the window, her face a mask of nothing.

“Do you ever wish you never had any powers?” Juni asked me, hesitating before her fingers tugged at the stray strands on her blanket. “Like that it would be better if you were normal?”

“No.” I whispered, remembering what ‘normal’ was like in the Sorell house.

“A long time ago,” Juni began. She hesitated again, “I had a friend. He was my everything, we played together even stayed the night at each other’s houses. One day I had a vision. I saw him, dead, on the side of a road. I couldn’t warn him because he wouldn’t believe me. I didn’t know when it would happen. I only saw him and the road and a car. I didn’t even know what season it was. About a month after that, the both of us were walking home from school when he was struck and killed by a drunk driver. I couldn’t even do anything about it. This time, my vision was clear, I want to be able to do something about it. Sometimes I have moments when I feel like I’m invisible.” Juni told me, her hands absently folding an edge of her blanket. “That I’ll end up being like this forever.”

“I know that feeling. The fear of never being reflected in someone’s eyes.” I looked over at her and grinned slightly, trying to take the edge off of my words. “Maybe we just need to wait for someone to appear like a knight in shining armor.”

“But you’re a boy. A knight can’t save you. You’d have to have a princess.” She chuckled, and shook her head. She got off of her own bed and sat on mine, leaning back against the wall by my bed. “Isn’t that too good to be true?” The glance she directed at me was a bit wicked. Now she was trying to lighten the mood. “There is a better way to go about it.”

“Is there a way to find love by myself?”

“First, try talking to lots of girls, and I mean lots.” I scrunched my face up at her.

“Who says I like girls?” She just made a face at me, and smiled. I had never told anyone before about the possibility of me being gay. It had sat in the back of my mind like a plague. Juni just went with it though, as if she had known all along. Maybe she had, maybe it was the reason we were roommates.

“Boys then.” She corrected flippantly, not bothered in the slightest. “Find ones with the same hobby, or ones you think you can handle. Once you find several of them, that’s when you start the preparations.”

“Preparations for what? Are we in a chemistry class?” She shook her head at me, laughing silently.

“Preparations for falling in love.” She parted the wisdom like it was a secret.

“Falling?” I asked, that seemed ominous. “What do you mean by falling? Doesn’t falling in love happen even without you even knowing about it?”

“Well, there are cases like that.” She muttered, looking far away, memories playing over her heart shaped face. “You know, things like how it starts and the body language between the two people. While getting to know those kinds of things, they will eventually end up liking each other.”

“So from those things I’ll come to like someone?” To me that seemed astonishing.

“Yeah.”

“Can you really call that true love?” I asked, “Because that seems like it is done on purpose.”

“Why?” she asked back, “Love can also grow properly like that, you know?”

“But if that’s the case,” I retorted, “what is true and what isn’t? Who decides whether it’s love or not?”

“Trust me,” she intoned, “you’ll know. My grandma always said that, he has to be a little crazier for you than you are for him.”

“What’s going to happen once I know?” I muttered to myself more than her, but she answered back anyway.

Juni smiled at me mischievously, a wicked, far away look in her eyes. “Something wonderful. You just need time in finding the Triple T.”

“The Triple T?”

“Yeah, tall, tan and tasty.” We shared a giggle at the thought. I sighed, she looked at me, where she was sitting next to me on my bed.

“What would have happened to me if you weren’t my roommate?” I asked, suddenly curious.

“You’d die,” she paused, “probably.”

Shocked I looked up into her eyes, they seemed serious. She shrugged and grinned at me, reaching out her arms to hug me, pressing her cheek against mine. I really didn’t know if she was joking. I hugged her back. I hoped she was joking but after her vision today, I wasn’t so sure anymore.

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